Mom of baby left in hot car charged with abuse

CHULA VISTA  A woman who left her 4-month-old baby in a car with the windows rolled up while she shopped for clothes faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of felony child abuse charges that prosecutors filed Wednesday.

Starley Cristal Geart, 25, pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in Chula Vista Superior Court. She was arrested July 24 in National City when someone noticed the infant girl in a car seat in the back of a sedan around 3 p.m.

Police were called and the baby was rescued, though the child was unconscious and drenched in sweat. She was revived and taken to Rady Children’s Hospital.

Geart had gone shopping at the Toda Moda store and insisted to police sheer had only left the child for a minute. But police said a surveillance tape showed that the child was in the car for 10 minutes by herself before police arrived.

Geart faces a maximum of six years in prison for the felony child abuse charge, and another potential six years for an allegation that she inflicted great bodily injury because the baby was found unconscious and nonresponsive.

Superior Court Judge Katherine A. Bacal also signed a protective order banning Geart from having any contact with the baby, unless they are supervised visits ordered by the Juvenile Court.